Stagger Mountain Tragedy

C

[VERSE 1]

       C                F              C                 F
I was born on Stagger Mountain in the sunshine and the snow
      C              Bb       F      G
And leaving was the first mistake I made
       C                 G             F             C
But I hungered for the shadows in the valley down below
       C                    Bb              C
And a girl that danced the tune the devil played
      C                  F                C                F
Her smile was like the blinding light of sunshine on the snow
          C              Bb        F       G
And the flashing of her hair was black as sin.
         C             G               F              C
And her body set the smokes of hell a-boiling in my skull
          C             Bb              C
When the fiddle of the devil made her spin.

[CHORUS]

         F                               C
Born in sunshine [sunshine] high on the mountain,
          G   F              C
Where the air   is pure and cold;
             G        F          C
But there's darkness    in the shadows
        Bb            C
In the canyons of my soul.

[INTERLUDE]

C

[VERSE 2]

     C                 F            C            F
The lantern cast her shadow like a demon on the wall
         C                Bb     F        G
And the naked sweat was gleaming on her skin;
           C                 G             F               C
Then the room was spinning closer as her clothes began to fall
         C              Bb              C
And the eagle started screaming in my brain
        C                 F            C                F
Then I saw the laughing dagger and I heard the devil scream
           C                Bb     F      G
And her bleeding heart was beating in my hand.
          C              G              F             C
Then the darkness flew away and I was standing by a tree
         C             Bb              C
With a hanging rope a-danglin' from a limb.

[CHORUS]

         F                               C
Born in sunshine [sunshine] high on the mountain,
          G   F              C
Where the air   is pure and cold;
             G        F          C
But there's darkness    in the shadows
        Bb            C
In the canyons of my soul.